North Korea criticizes talks

Foreign ministry calls U.S. demands "gangster-like"

Andrew Harnik and Matthew Lee Associated Press

Published
10:47 pm EDT, Saturday, July 7, 2018

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, says goodbye to Kim Yong Chol, right, a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, before boarding his plane at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday, July 7, 2018, to travel to Japan. Pompeo described two days of meetings with Chol as "productive, good faith negotiations" in the ongoing effort towards denuclearization, and plans have been set to discuss the process of repatriation of remains next week in Panmunjom. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool) less

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, says goodbye to Kim Yong Chol, right, a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, before boarding his plane at Sunan International ... more

Photo: Andrew Harnik

Photo: Andrew Harnik

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, says goodbye to Kim Yong Chol, right, a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, before boarding his plane at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday, July 7, 2018, to travel to Japan. Pompeo described two days of meetings with Chol as "productive, good faith negotiations" in the ongoing effort towards denuclearization, and plans have been set to discuss the process of repatriation of remains next week in Panmunjom. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool) less

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, says goodbye to Kim Yong Chol, right, a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, before boarding his plane at Sunan International ... more

Photo: Andrew Harnik

North Korea criticizes talks

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Pyongyang, North Korea

High-level talks between the United States and North Korea appeared to hit a snag on Saturday as Pyongyang said a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was "regrettable" and accused Washington of making "gangster-like" demands to pressure the country into abandoning its nuclear weapons.

The statement came just hours after Pompeo finished two days of talks with senior officials but not meeting North Korea leader Kim Jong Un. The North Korea Foreign Ministry statement said the U.S. betrayed the spirit of last month's summit between President Donald Trump and Kim by making "unilateral and gangster-like" demands on complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea that has led to a "dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearization that had been firm...Our expectations and hopes were so naive it could be called foolish."

According to the spokesman, the North asked about the possibility of a formal declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War (which concluded with an armistice, not a peace treaty) but the United States replied with "conditions and excuses." The spokesman also down-played the United States suspending military exercises with South Korea, saying the North made a larger concession by blowing up nuclear test site tunnels.

Before leaving Pyongyang, Pompeo said his conversations with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol had been "productive" with "a great deal of progress" and "still more work to be done."

Pompeo said a Pentagon team would be meeting with North Korean officials around July 12 at the border between North and South Korea to discuss the repatriation of remains of Americans killed during the Korean War. Following his historic June 12 summit, Trump announced the return of remains was completed. Pompeo, however, said more talks were needed.